Britain · UK News Post
Hundreds of workers at Whyalla’s steelworks will lose their jobs after the heart of the operations – the blast furnace – repeatedly failed to fire, in a devastating economic blow for the South Australian seaport city. The decision to abandon further revival efforts will effectively shut down most of the operations at one of Australia’s two remaining steel facilities – and the last to manufacture rail steel on shore. The workforce from the steelworks, the port, and the associated mine will be reduced from 1700 to about 1200, according to administrators KordaMentha.
Another 100 labour hire workers will also lose their jobs. The South Australian premier, Peter Malinauskas, said the 60-year-old blast furnace’s “days were numbered”. “There was always the intention that it would close.
We would have liked it to last a little bit longer, but, alas, it hasn’t been able to,” Malinauskas said on Monday Malinauskas said redundant workers would receive their full entitlements and that the state and federal government would provide a $10m package that includes support for “re-skilling and training”. The coal-fired blast furnace has been offline since April. The Whyalla steelworks were part of British industrialist Sanjeev Gupta’s metals empire until early last year when the South Australian government tipped the operations into administration after years of underinvestment.
The state government said at the time that upgrade promises, including installation plans for an electric arc furnace to replace the ageing coal-based system, were repeatedly unfulfilled. The federal and state governments unveiled a $2.4bn support package to keep the plant running, pay employees and creditors, upgrade infrastructure, and ultimately entice a new buyer to reinvigorate the plant. KordaMentha partner Sebastian Hams said on Monday that efforts by workers to keep the blast furnace operating over many years should be commended.
“This is a difficult decision, but it is a necessary one as the company transitions to modern steel making technologies,” Hams said. Whyalla’s mining and steel operations represent the economic foundation of a city relied on by numerous workers along with other businesses, from contractors to cafes. Operations will now be severely restricted, with the plant to rely on stockpiles and externally sourced semi-finished steel products to keep manufacturing going.
Port operations will also continue. Administrators hope to sell the business without an operational blast furnace. The Australian-based M Resources, Indian company Jindal Steel and BlueScope Steel were among the potential suitors.
Source: The Guardian